Anonymous
The morning sun invited me to walk to the supermarket.
I didn’t take the car because I didn’t want to park it.
Besides, the need for groceries was small, a backpack would suffice –
Butter, cream cheese, raspberries to make a tasty slice.
The air was fresh, the sun was bright, few cars on the highway,
No-one else out walking either, to chat along the way.
The quiet streets, the shops all closed, nothing disturbed the peace,
Occasionally a truck would pass but soon its noise would cease
In solitude, so all along on my way I wandered.
“Where on earth can people be? ” the question that I pondered.
The carpark at Coles Supermarket was sparsely populated,
The crowds of panic buyers gone as government stipulated.
Antiseptic wiped the basket handle as in the store I went,
And went to claim the aforesaid items as that was my intent.
Flybuys first then credit card, purchases in the backpack,
Out into the quiet streets not wanting to go back.
The long walk back up Raglan Street, not a soul in sight.
It was quieter in morning sun than at the dead of night.
(Do we go forward or do we prefer the quiet streets?)
From “Face Masks and Sanitisers” published by the Daylesford U3A Writers’ Circle
